Carpet Express Blog

Question: Can you give me any pointers on installing your hardwood flooring on a diagonal???? This is a bedroom with two door ways, one meeting tile the other going into a living area which will get hardwood down the road. Thanks for any pointers!!!!!

Sincerely,
-Charlie

Answer: Installing wood in a diagonal or 45 degree pattern is quite a task. The most important thing is to take your time in plumming out the room.

The easiest way to get your 45 degree angle is to go to the corner of the room (with a 90 degree angle) and measure three feet from the corner of the wall down the edge of the wall. Make a mark as close to the wall as possible. Staying in the same corner, measure three feet down the other (adjourning) wall, and make your next mark as close to that wall as possible. Now plum a line to both marks and this should form a triangle in that corner. This will give you a 45 degree angle and this should also be your starting point.

This is a pretty tough task, and since there’s no way I can cover everything in one paragraph, feel free to call me with any other questions. You can also go to www.nofma.com for pictures and more details.

Thanks!
-Mike Jones

Question: I really like the laminate flooring but hate the humps the transition t molds leave. I want to butt a laminate floor up against a tile floor. I’m using the metal trim strip or my tile. Can I run the laminate parallel to the tile floor, leave the normal 1/4 expansion gap and fill it with the flexible grout caulk to match the color of my tile grout and then leave the normal 1/4 gap around the rest of the room for expansion?

Sincerely,
-Kirby

Answer: If you really wanted to, you could do this. The flexible grout, however, would only offer a temporary solution. Over time, the normal expansion and contraction of the laminate would cause that seam to break. When transtitioning from laminate, it is best to use a t-mold or a threshold.

Thanks,
-Joe Massey

First of all, I believe a consumer needs to understand what cabin or tavern grade wood is. It will consist of mineral streaks, knots, worm holes, missing tongues, off-shades, splits, and other blemishes. Always allow 15% for waste when using a Cabin or Tavern grade.

When installing this type of material, work out of 5-6 boxes at a time. You need to inspect each board before installing so you can cut out major defects and use those boards for either starter boards or end boads. Try to use the best looking boards in the middle of the room and in main traffic areas.

Use all other boards closer to the outer walls where they will be covered by couches, chairs, TVs, or other furniture. If possible, put the most defective boards in closets or underneath appliances.

The main thing is to be willing to accept the natural characteristics of the wood. If you take the time to preplan your installation, you should end up with a floor that you will enjoy and admire.

Above, Mike Jones demonstrates a nail down installation to a group of Do-It-Yourself students. Besides squaring the room properly and correct installation techniques, Mike shows how to get the least waste and the best lok out of cabin grade wood. The students were pleased to learn that with proper tools and expert advice, hardwood installation is a fairly easy procedure.

Cabin Grade wood flooring (also called tavern, shop, utility, or character grade) can be a tremendous value. It is usually purchased at about a 25% discount to the 1st quality or builder grade. You get wood from the same trees, milled to the same specifications, but your cabin grade wood will not be as clean and you will have more waste. Hopefully, the following information will help you make an informed decision when purchasing your hardwood floor.

Cabin grade wood refers to prefinished hardwood flooring that was culled, or removed from the standard quality, because of manufacturing defects, knots, worm holes, bad mineral streaks, color variations, short boards, or other defects. Every board in a box of cabin grade wood supposedly failed to meet set manufacturers standards or color tolerance.

Most manufacturers state that 15% - 20% of wood in cabin or tavern grade wood will need to be removed. That means on an average 700 square foot job, you would need to buy 805 - 840 square feet to make sure you have enough wood. At 20 sq. ft. per box, that’s about 6 boxes of waste. Even after discarding the defective boards, your floor will still have a rustic look. If you want a uniform look with less mineral streaking, and more uniform color, you need to buy 1st quality wood.

At Carpet Express, we sell a tremendous amount of cabin grade wood and certainly do not want to discourage you from making a purchase. Cabin grade wood could be the perfect choice for your home or office. We just want our customers to know the facts about cabin grade wood, and what to expect when you open a box.

Armstrong has created a hybrid grade of wood flooring for it’s Bruce and other divisions. It’s called TW, which stands for tavern with warranty. This is a glorified tavern grade, which carries a 5 year finish warranty. By glorified, I mean the worm holes and knots have been filled, and the overall look is not visually quite as rustic as other tavern brands. We sell lots of TW grade, especially in the Bristol, Dundee, Lock n’ Fold, Waltham, and other Bruce styles. But Armstrong still recommends a minimum of 15% extra be purchased to account for culling or rejects, and your floor will still have a rustic look.

At Carpet Express, we want a happy customer who loves their new floor. The correct hardwood flooring for you may or may not be cabin or tavern grade wood. Your Carpet Express sales person will use their experience and expertise to help you choose the floor that’s right for you.

We’ve been asked many times over the years what is meant by promotional grade carpet. We thought it would be a good idea to explain exactly what it means here.

Promotional Grade carpet is a generic term used by carpet manufacturers to describe carpet sold at a substantial discount to its normal price. The carpet is sold through the mills’ promotional goods department and usually does not have a warranty. The carpet may or may not have defects, but you should be made aware of why the carpet is being sold through the promotional department.

Several reasons may cause both residential or commercial carpet to be sold as promotional goods:

1. Dropped Style: When a style is dropped by a mill and most of the best colors are sold off, often the remaining rolls will be sold at a substantial discount through the promotional department.
2. Off-Shade: This means the color does not match the sample swatch and therefore cannot be sold as a running line product. The carpet is then sold as off-goods through the promotional department. These off-shade rolls are sold as off-goods or promotional goods even though they have no defects. Off-shade carpet is usually a tremendous value.
3. Side-Match: After carpet is dyed, a swatch is cut from both sides of the carpet to be sure they match. If the sides do not match, it is called a side-match problem, becuase placing opposite sides together at the seams will cause an obvious color variation. A bad side match will not be visible in smaller rooms where no seams are necessary.
4. Streaks: There are many degrees of streaking, and many causes. Most streaks are caused  by one strand of yarn having a different twist level than the rest. This may result in what is called chicken tracks. There may also be a high line or low line that was caused by a problem in tufting or shearing. Streaks may be very minor (A seconds), very noticeable (B seconds), or somewhere between. It is best to see streaked carept before you purchase it, or have your sales representative inspect the carpet for you. Small rooms, especially bedrooms with lots of furniture, will hide most streaks.
5. Dye Spots: These spots can be a splothcy look to the carpet or small drops which may or may not be very noticeable. Like streaks, they just need to be looked at and evaluated. Slight spotting is not very noticeable and usually fine for small rooms.

Side-match problems, streaks, and dye spots are only visual defects and in no way hurt the life or performance of the carpet. However, there are other carpet defects which most consumers should avoid. These include loose jute or backing, delamination, wet carpet, and I’m sure there are others. These are structural defects that compromise the integrity of the carpet.

Promotional Goods cover a broad range of 1st quality carpet, carpet with slight visual defects, as well as carpet with major defects. At Carpet Express we are very open with our customers and try to represent the promotional carpet we sell completely and honestly. Your sales person at Carpet Express will ensure you know exactly what you are buying. Promotional carpet can be a tremendous value not only for rental property, but also for your home.

The primary business of Carpet Express is selling 1st quality, running line floor covering complete with Manufacturer’s Warranty.

Just to keep you informed of the upcoming price increases in the carpet industry, here are some excerpts from a couple letters sent to us by the mills.

Mohawk stated in a letter dated April 25, 2008:

“The recent series of increases occuring in the energy sector have continued to plague the floorcovering industry. As oil approaches historical records, the entire raw material chain associated with carpet production has been negatively impacted by these trends. While we have continued our efforts to mitigate the impact of high enrgy and material costs through a combination of aggressive cost controls, expense reduction and increased prices, these latest rounds of further material increases by our suppliers in polymer, fiber, backings and latex have required us to raise carpet prices. Effective with order of all residential and commercial carpet products on June 3rd, and shipments after June 16th, we will be increasing prices by a range of 4-7%…”

On April 29th, 2008 Beaulieu had this to say:

“Raw materials and energy used to produce and transport carpets have continued to increase during the first quarter and into the second. During the past four months, we have been absorbing these additional cost increases. We had hoped to see these increased raw material costs to subside. Unfortunately, they have not, and we must pass them along both in carpet and freight surcharges.

Effective with order on June 2nd and shipments on June 16th we will increase carpet prices 4-8%.”

Here at Carpet Express, we fully comprehend the frustration of rising prices. We will continue to offer our floorcovering products at the best discount prices we can.

It was a festive week at Carpet Express. Our annual “Spring Sale” was a grand success. We served over 900 of Randy’s Famous Hot Dogs on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, along with Mike’s spicy chicken, and Murray’s grilled salmon. We all ate very well.

Sales were strong and our sales goals were met. This is a reflection of the value we offer to both retail and wholesale customers at Carpet Express. We know it’s not easy out there with a weak housing market and sky rocketing gas prices, but we know how to use our buying power to keep our prices extremely low, and we pass these savings on to you. Our employees understand just how important our customers are, and we do our best to earn your trust and treat you right.

Carpet, hardwood, vinyl, vinyl tile, laminate, ceramic, and installation make up our core business, but I’d like to talk about the continued popularity of laminate flooring. Our Venetian, at 89¢, is our entry level and “Basis II” from Witex, at $1.99 sf is a nice upgrade. These products are extremely popular and make a beautiful floor at a fantastic price. As carpet manufacturers continue to raise carpet prices, the entry level laminates will continue to gain in popularity. Our Witex Grandeur, Armstrong Grand Illusions, and Bruce Park Avenue are absolutely beautiful and very popular. The durable piano finish on exotic wood patterns offers customers a laminate floor that would be extremely difficult and expensive to reproduce with natural wood. These are the most exciting laminate products I’ve ever seen.

If you missed our Spring Sale, it’s not too late to enjoy great savings at Carpet Express. We’re America’s Floor Store, and we’ll treat you right.

Welcome to the Carpet Express blog!

We should be discussing new products and innovations in the flooring industry quite regularly, so be sure to bookmark this blog. We’re sure you’ll find new and interesting facts everytime you come back!

Your square yard price is only the beginning. Be sure you’re only paying for enough carpet to cover your floor. Otherwise, you might be paying for phantom carpet, and putting excess cash in your installer’s or your dealer’s pocket.

Beware of low prices from full service dealers!

I’ve asked serveral people about the cost of the carpet they recently purchased for their home. They usually say something like, “Oh it was about $30.00 per square yard.” Or they might say the carpet was $20.00, the pad was $4.00, and installation was $6.00 per square yard. Then I ask how many yards they bought and they say “I’m not sure. About 120 yards.”

Then I ask “how do you know you got 120 yards?” and they say “because it’s on the invoice.”

So you think they actually installed 120 yards? The invoice only tells how many yards you paid for.

At this point, the light goes on, they look bewildered and say “You know, I don’t have any idea how many yards they actually installed in my house. All I know is the installer measuredand told me how many yards I needed. “

Think about it. If your carpet man pads your order by 20%, that’s a lot of money to his bottom line. One million in annual sales a year, and that’s a whopping $200,000 in extra profit! This is the ultimate sale for a retailer or installer. A sale with absolutely no cost. No material cost. No labor cost. 100% of this phantom sale goes to the bottom line.

It might be the local retailer, it might be a Big Box, or it might be the installer. But whoever the scammer is, it’s very hard to catch, and very hard to prove. If it’s the installer, he might say “Oh, I ran the carpet a different direction so your seams won’t show,” or “they must have shorted you at the mill.” You may even catch him taking a roll off the job site, in which case he’ll just say it was extra, and he was returning it to the mill for credit. The point is, it can be hard to prove.

The worst I’ve ever seen was a job that needed about 400 yards and the installer figured the job at 700 yards. When I asked the lady if she really thought her house needed 700 yards of carpet, she said that her other estimate had called for 650 yards! These installers would make between $3,000 and $5,000 extra profit on this one job! At the customer’s expense! The larger the job, the more room for creative measuring.

The only way to protect yourself from this fraud is to review the yardage requirement for your job. This should be done with the installer or your salesperson. If you make a simple drawing of the areas to be computed, the process should make sense. But under most circumstances, you should not need over 10% more carpet than the square yardage you are covering. The larger the house or office, the less overage you’ll need (percentage wise).

I hope this lesson of the phantom carpet sales helps you answer my question. “How much did you pay for that carpet?“